The first time I tried Kairi Panna - a Maharashtran drink made out of raw mangoes - which was bought from a store, I was left very disappointed. Later I was offered a glass of homemade panna at a dinner party and hoping for the best, I took it. It was much much much better. Now that I tried making it at home, I absolutely love it - so refreshing, simple, yet satisfying with a nice flavour of cardamon and sourness of raw mangoes. Knowing us, we just had to try making a cocktail out of it later at night ;o) So have it plain or with some vodka and fiery chillies - it's a perfect drink either way! You can make as much as you want of this and keep it refrigerated for up to a month.

I used:

4 raw mangoes

seeds of 8-10 cardamon pods, crushed

~1/2 cup of sugar or jaggery, which adds nice taste to the drink

a pinch of safron (optional), soaked in a little bit of hot water

~1/2 tsp of salt

Just before serving:

chilled water and ice cubes

50 ml of vodka per drink (optional)

a small pinch of red Kashmiri chilli powder (optional)

1. First you will need to cook the mangoes. Add them whole with skin into a pot with boiling water and cook them for about 30 minutes or until they are completely soft (check with a fork). When they are ready, take them out of the pot and let them cool down.

2. Peel the mangoes and remove all the pulp into a blender.

3. Add the sugar, cardamon, safron, salt and blend it all together. The amount of sugar will depend on the sourness of the mango, so add a little bit at a time and taste it.

4. When you are ready to serve it, put 3 tablespoons of this flavoured raw mango pure into a glass and fill it up with chilled water. Mix it well and add ice cubes.

5. For a spiked version, add vodka and a pinch of red Kashmiri chilli powder.

Cheers!

Instead of red Kashmiri chilli powder, you can spice it up with ground balck pepper or roasted cumin powder, or have it plain.